What if words only referred to words? What if ultimately, we lived in a self-referential world were words circled themselves but never broke through to signal something real through them? What if they contained no real presence? There are many who think this—the nominalists of our age. A nominalist thinks that a word like “justice” is a human convention we use to describe an idea or our collective observations. But “justice” exists in name only (hence nominalist)—there is no real justice that exists outside of human experience to which we should conform. The same is true of other words like “virtue,” “truth,” and “wisdom.”
I am struck by the fact that a master of arts degree used to mean that you were qualified to instruct all seven of the liberal arts! My own MA degree certainly doesn’t mean that and I doubt there are many out there who would qualify by that definition. Thank you for this beautiful and thought-provoking article.
I am struck by the fact that a master of arts degree used to mean that you were qualified to instruct all seven of the liberal arts! My own MA degree certainly doesn’t mean that and I doubt there are many out there who would qualify by that definition. Thank you for this beautiful and thought-provoking article.